One set of rules for riders and another for our rule-makers and enforcers?

Posted: 28th January 2010 | 5 Comments »

I frequently walk by this M/C parking bay, but the scene I saw this week got me thinking about rules. Who makes ‘em, what for – in theory and really – and who has to abide by The Rules and who can get away with flouting them…

The first thing that started me thinking in that direction was the surprise of seeing how full this bay was on a dark cold drizzly night – having approached it from behind the sign. And, I guess I should explain that the bay is usually fairly empty these days, but not because riders in London don’t go out in the cold or at night. In fact this bay used to be rammed full to overflowing pretty much 24/7. But that all stopped when Westminster began their ‘experimental’ scheme to try and force all scooter and motorbike riders to pay a new parking tax – which they did by changing the rules in all of the few M/C bays in the central area of London where the council make the rules. And to keep the picture clear despite the murky photos, bays like this one that were designated for bike parking without risk of fines for ‘illegal’ parking, are inadequately scattered amongst the acres of road space that are covered by parking rules which are to ‘manage traffic’ in theory. But in reality of course, the main reason for these rules is to keep the money flowing in from the Cash Cow that parking enforcement has become.

Anyway, it is also clear from these pictures, and loads more here, that the scallywags who have defaced the new scheme signs have broken some rules in a rebellious effort to invalidate the enforcement of a bike parking tax in that location. And I gather that this particular type of signage customisation/ vandalism is called ‘Rathboning’ as these acts are attributed to a mysterious ‘Captain Rathbone’ – and a loose collection of pirates who keep doing these dastardly deeds. However, as I said before, I am not in a position to condone such rule-breaking for various reasons, not least of which is my concern that such activities could harm the reputation of ‘bikers’ and scooterists in London. But what I can and will say is that these Rathboners are not the only bunch involved with this new riders’ tax who seem to be breaking rules.

I have seen the full range of formalised complaints against the pioneers of this new bike parking tax scheme, and the evidence to back such claims. Most of this has been gathered and submitted by a dedicated few in the NTBPT. But the claims and evidence that triggered an EU Commission investigation has come from very big international players in the parking enforcement business who are very aggrieved by what they claim is very serious rule-breaking indeed. So, from what I’ve seen, I can say that all sorts of rules may well have been bent or broken, in order to get this new tax imposed for the moment on the central streets of London.

But now it seems we’re at a point where reactions to rules and rule-breaking are getting complicated. Having seen the initial rounds of formal responses from the organisations who are supposed to investigate claims about rule breaking and take action to stop it, or chuck out anything that is wrongly achieved by it, it looks like some of them are trying to wriggle out of doing their job. Currently, it would seem that the Office of Fair Trading is suggesting that it would be best if they let the EU Commissioners  investigate complaints that the bike park tax pioneers at WCC may have flouted rules to ensure that trading in Britain is actually fair. Frankly I’m not convinced about that but not being an expert on fair trading laws I’m not qualified to say, but I gather that the NTBPT are in touch with bods who can.

Currently, the OFT are not alone in resisting calls for action. Other official bodies who have been asked to investigate potential rule-breaking behind the scenes by the bike tax pioneers, are also trying to buy some time before getting on with investigations. And, in a way this is understandable as they are run by civil servants in outfits like like the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Audit Commission, where all will be wondering if they’ll still have a job after the next election.

So, for now, it is clear that some rules about defacing signs are being broken on the street by individuals who feel that such actions are their best or perhaps only path left for expressing their views about a new bike parking tax. What is far less clear though is whether those who have made new rules to tax riders have broken even more behind the facade of Westminster City Hall. We will also have to wait and see if the public servants who are responsible for investigating rule breakers do their job as well and fairly as they should. Personally, I very much hope they do in due course. But I will not be holding my breath in the mean time – and will be doing what I can to encourage all concerned to respect the rules that deserve respecting most…

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RATS bikers protest group blockade Westminster City Hall with motorbikes … while the EU Commission opens an investigation into pay-by-mobile phone M/C parking fees & fines scheme.

Posted: 7th December 2009 | 3 Comments »

Earlier this morning a riders group who are new to me made something of an impact in downtown Victoria in the heart of the Westminster area of central London. The RATS (Riders Against Tory Stealth-taxes) managed to delay a meeting of the Partnership in Parking PIP consortium at Westminster City Hall by chaining a number of bikes together in protest. This lot are, incidentally, an entirely separate bunch from the No to Bike Parking Tax NTBPT group.

Anyway, I gather that these rascals are a splinter group of activist opponents to the controversial attempt by Westminster City Council to pioneer a new pay-by-mobile-phone parking fees and fines scheme – and to sell the system to any other local authority who wants to extract a few more quid from bikers if they can. And this may be a tempting prospect when you notice that the Westminster trial scheme has already extracted more than £2m from riders pockets More pics here

Later today, another demonstration is scheduled to take place but this one is organised by the official NTBPT group so it will be interesting to see what happens then. It will also be interesting to see whether the mainstream news media take the opportunity to report what is really happening these days on the streets of London or stick to their more conventionally oriented coverage of output from never ending streams of PR and well spun versions of what our governers would like us to get as ‘news’.

But back to this morning’s events, an eyewitness tells me that the police arrived on the scene and engaged in a highly professional investigation and amicable spot of negotiations. All of which resulted in a conclusion that no criminal activity or damage had occurred, a bunch of disaffected bikers had exercised their rights to take to the streets in protest, and the meeting then went ahead albeit two hours later than planned.

I also gather that meeting was rather uneventful, or as one member of the public gallery put it boring as f**k – until the end. Some council members of the London-wide consortium had no idea that opposition to bike parking charges was so vigorous and voiced major concerns about the very idea of charging riders of congestion busting motorcycles to park – let alone having their consortium take the lead on spreading it nationwide.

…Meanwhile, I learned late on Friday that the EU Commission will investigate whether regulations have been flouted or laws broken during the set-up phase of the bike parking tax scheme being pioneered in Westminster…

EU Commissioners have served notice on the UK government’s representative in Brussels that they are opening a formal investigation into an official complaint that EU regulations were flouted in setting up the controversial bike parking fees scheme being trailed in Westminster. The complaints were lodged in 2008, and made regarding some of the behind-the-scene activities by the Partnership in Parking (PIP) consortium that was originally set up with tax payers money. It is alleged, by the complainant and opponents of the scheme, that the way that PIP went about setting up the pay-by-mobile-phone scheme involved several violations of EU law on procurement.

The case for investigation, No.SG-CDC-2008A-7695, was formally opened on 20th November and the UK government has eight weeks to reply to notification of the investigation.

The key allegations are that PIP coordinators set up the scheme in a way that could not only be rolled out throughout the UK by any authorities who wanted to introduce a new pay-by-mobile-phone bike parking charging and enforcement regime – but that PIP encouraged councils to deploy the new fees and fines system without a tender process by merely joining the PIP consortium.

The complainant cannot be named because it has asked the EU Commission to protect their identity during the course of the investigation. However, I have now seen a copy of the submission of complaints and can say that in my view it is very understandable why the Commission are taking the complaints sufficiently seriously to open a formal investigation…

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